Searching for a successor
at the school district

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

When Paul Vallas became the head of the School District of Philadelphia in 2002, parents and students shared no role in his appointment.
The same won’t be true for his successor.
On Sept. 18, the School Reform Commission held the first of a dozen public forums to gauge parents’ opinions of what they want in the district’s next CEO. The forum was held at Dave & Buster’s at the Franklin Mills mall in conjunction with a meeting of the Home and School Association.
Marty Bednarek, a school reform commissioner from the Northeast, said the district wants the public to play a role throughout the process to replace Vallas, who stepped down in May to become superintendent of the New Orleans school district. Tom Brady is serving as the interim CEO. The Hollins Group, an executive search firm handling the process, hopes to identify the candidate by year’s end.
"We thought it was important that the public be engaged in this search," Bednarek said. "We want to get their ideas of what person they want in there to care for their children."
Parents had a lot to say on the topic. In small groups, they discussed the school district’s strengths and weaknesses and the desired traits of their future leader.
Edwin Forrest Elementary School parent Angelina Smith praised the school district for encouraging more parental involvement, panned it for classroom sizes and the lengthy wait for facility improvements, and said the next CEO should be "parent-friendly and accessible" and know how to handle children.
"We need someone who has hands-on experience and who has taught and dealt with children," she said.
Ryan Hudson, 21, a Temple University junior who takes his younger sibling to school at Grover Cleveland Elementary in Nicetown, simply wants a CEO with common sense and communication skills.
"You have to be able to talk to everybody," he said.
SRC chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn wants the next leader to continue with the district’s $1.5 billion capital improvement program, keep test scores rising and expand alternative programs.
"We don’t need a whole new plan," she said.
Charles Taylor, the vice president and managing director of The Hollins Group, said his search firm plans to scour the country for potential candidates, about 25 of whom will be interviewed. The group has handled previous candidate searches, though not the one for Vallas, for the district.
Taylor said public input is imperative in finding the right person for the job. The SRC plans to start an advisory committee to guide the final stages of the search.
"If we don’t have a detailed profile, no amount of advertising is going to get us the person you’re looking for," Taylor said. ••
No future CEO forums have been scheduled in the Northeast. For information on the process, call 215-400-4000 or e-mail ceosearch@phila.k12.pa.us
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com